Overlooking Iceland on the airplane.

When you are instructed to pack lightly it is not a joke.

Two large rolling suitcases plus a carry on and an overly stuffed purse do not fit well through the small doors that you have to go through to get on the train that will take you from the airport into Paris. It is also very difficult to lift two large suitcases onto the train, that is if you made it through the doors alright. Not to mention lugging those suitcases up two flights of stairs in order to exit the train station.

Not that that happened to me, of course. Just hypothetically speaking.

Anyways, I arrived in Paris yesterday around 1 pm and after making the train ride to Gare de Nord I parted with the friend I made from Iceland and took a taxi to rue Oberkampf. I arrived tired, sweaty, and extremely thirsty at the blue doors of my new home, Résidence République.

After being thoroughly confused by this sign for about ten minutes I eventually wandered into a door that took me to this nice cobblestone road, which leads to the entrance to my building. I was then greeted by about five RA’s who were extremely happy to meet me.

I was showed to my room where I was then left to recuperate.

Today marks my first full day in Paris and already, it has been a little adventure. Having awoken with no food in my kitchen, I wandered out onto rue Oberkampf and found a boulangerie to get a croissant.

Paris in the morning is beautiful, and though my French is very rusty, I find that speaking with people is pretty easy and they are happy if you are polite.

The neighborhood I live in is very young and lively, especially at night. There are a lot of artists and students and on my walk this morning I found quite a bit of amazing street art.

It is not going to take very much time for me to fall in love with this city.

XOLily